1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pulsed laser comprising a laser diode and a current pulse generator feeding the laser diode.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to generate laser light pulses of high power, laser diodes require high currents, which demanded hitherto costly control circuits for very narrow pulses in the nanosecond range. In this case, a fast power switch connects the laser diode to a battery of capacitors. This battery is recharged by a power supply unit in the intervals between pulses. The switches employed are bipolar transistors or thyristors which must pass into the conductive state within a few nanoseconds as determined by the steep pulse flanks. The control currents necessary for this purpose have hitherto been achieved only with the aid of complex control units.